


Blue Lights and Teddy Bears

by Lumelle



Series: Girls Worth Fighting For [1]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Canon Relationships, F/M, Post-Iron Man 3, Pregnancy, Protective Tony Stark
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-09-01
Updated: 2013-09-01
Packaged: 2017-12-25 08:23:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,805
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/950866
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lumelle/pseuds/Lumelle
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Iron Man is needed again, Tony turns the Avengers down in favor of protecting something much more important -- and Steve cannot truly blame him. However, thanks to Pepper, Tony surprises the Avengers when they need him most -- then surprises them again.</p><p>Good news are always welcome.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Blue Lights and Teddy Bears

**Author's Note:**

> I've had this idea in my head pretty much ever since I walked out of _Iron Man 3_. I finally managed to get it out.

"Sorry, Cap, but no can do."

It took a moment for Tony's words to actually register as a refusal. When they did, Steve blinked, surprised. "What did you say?"

"I thought I was being perfectly clear." Tony raised an eyebrow, then turned back to the blue outlines glimmering throughout the space. "I'm sorry to hear we're expecting a big attack or whatever, I truly am, but I've just got to leave it in your capable hands. I can hook you up with Bruce if you want, but then I suspect Fury's perfectly aware of where he is anyway."

"We need you, though." Steve wanted to fidget, only stopping himself through sheer force of will. Tony was not even looking at him, yet he felt like he was being stared at. He suspected the huge arm-like thing whirring in the corner, occasionally pointing its arm his way. It would be just like Tony to make even his robots capable of staring at unexpected — unwanted — guests.

"Of course you do. Everyone wants a piece of me, I'm Tony fucking Stark. However, like most of humanity, you'll just have to do without."

"Unlike most of humanity, though, you're an Avenger."

"Except that I'm not. Just a man in a metal suit, remember?" Tony shook his head. "And I got rid of the suits. So, unless you need some new tech, I really don't understand what you're doing here."

Steve winced. "I'm sorry," he said, very much sincere. "I… wasn't entirely myself when I said that."

"And can you look me in the eye and tell me you'd have never thought of those things if it wasn't for Loki?" Tony turned to look at him now, making Steve avert his eyes. "Yeah, I thought so."

"I was wrong, though." He was not too proud to admit that. "We need Iron Man. The world needs Iron Man."

"Yeah, about that." Tony strode through the workshop, patting another clumsy-looking robot as he passed it like one would a dog. "I'm not sure if you heard about this, but I'm kind of retired from that stuff." He patted his chest. "Still recovering from open heart surgery and all, I really should be taking it easy. And even disregarding that, because I just know you'll have some oh so clever retort about how seriously I take my health under most circumstances, I don't have the suit anymore."

Steve blinked. "What?" Now that he thought about it, Tony had said something about that earlier; it hadn't quite registered then, though.

"I don't have the suit. Suits. I blew them all up, a little Christmas present for my beloved Pepper. Glowing sparkles in the sky, every single one of them."

"Are you seriously telling me you have nothing? Not a single suit left? Tony Stark destroys one of his greatest inventions and isn't already working on rebuilding it, bigger and better and flashier?"

Tony's lips twitched, only a minute movement, but enough of an answer nevertheless. "That's irrelevant."

"I really don't see how it could be." Steve shook his head. "You are Iron Man, not just the suit. That's what you said, right? I've seen the footage. You made that quite clear."

"Oh, that's still true. I'm Iron Man, yeah, just not in active service." Tony shrugged. "I'm sure if you ask nicely enough, the air force will lend you Rhodey. You know about War Machine, right? Or wait, are they still calling him Iron Patriot? You'd love working with him, I just know it. Both terribly appropriate soldiering types. You've even got matching paint jobs."

"And his help would be greatly appreciated, yes." Steve had heard about Iron Patriot, of course; it would have been quite difficult not to. However, he still would have much preferred Iron Man. "However, you are what we want."

"And I said no." Tony waved his arms, bringing up several smaller blueprints, all circling him in the air. "This your usual strategy, Rogers? Badgering on and on and hoping they'll grow tired enough to say yes? Because if so, wow, no wonder you can't get a date despite all that chiseled physique."

Steve winced. "I'm just trying to understand." And, yes, maybe still hoping Tony would change his mind. "I know I don't know you well, but… this just doesn't seem like you."

"Look, Cap, I've never been particularly good at thinking about anyone but myself." Tony shook his head, his hand grasping what seemed like the blueprint of a gauntlet, crumbling it up and tossing it away. "Hell, most of the time I even fail at thinking about myself, at least in the ways that matter. But believe it or not, I've been trying. Ever since Pepper decided to take a chance and risk at least a teeny tiny part of her happiness on my sorry ass, I have really, sincerely, been trying. Sure, I may not have always been particularly successful, but somehow she hasn't kicked me out yet, so I can't have entirely failed, either."

"I know that's not true." The part about not thinking about himself, maybe. Not thinking about others, never. He had seen Tony's true colors during the battle of New York, and then all over the news after his latest bout of heroics. "You — I know what I said. I know I was wrong, and I'm sorry. I'm sincerely sorry for misjudging you."

"Wow, that must have hurt." Tony snorted. "They going to make you turn in your good guy card for thinking nice things about a total wretch like me?"

Steve winced. "I suppose I deserve that," he murmured. "But that was me, Tony. My mistake, one which I will apologize for again and again until you believe me. Letting others suffer for it is beneath you."

Tony paused, almost mid-step on his stroll through several glowing figures arranged in neat rows, tossing them in various directions as he passed by. "You know, Cap," he said, his words slow and almost with a hint of amusement, "for a national icon, you sure are full of yourself. Wait, that would actually make that more likely, wouldn't it? All that open adulation and stuff making you think more of yourself?"

Steve frowned. He knew he hadn't been as nice as he should have been, but surely that was uncalled for. "I really don't see —"

"Oh, believe me, I know." One form in the trash, another in a growing pile to one side, deft fingers working in ways that seemed more like magic even though Steve knew they were pure science, somehow. "You don't see, do you? You still think this is about you. You think I'm saying no because I'm still bitter about what you said. Ha ha, you don't think I'm enough of a hero, I'll sure prove you wrong by not being one, or something along those lines?"

"I wouldn't blame you." Steve clenched his fists, turning his gaze away. "I know it's low of me, asking for your help when I dismissed you before. Refusing would be nothing I don't deserve. I'm just asking you to consider how others will be affected."

"That's my whole damn point, my dear Captain. For the first time in a long while, I'm actually, truly thinking about others." Tony made a complicated gesture, and all of a sudden all the glowing figures spun, shrank down, and disappeared. Steve was left blinking in the dim light of the workshop, afterimages dancing in his eyes. "Not just because I want to, not just because I need to, but because I have to. I have to, or I will never forgive myself. And that, Steve, is much more important to me than your approval."

"I don't understand." Which he had to admit was not an entirely unfamiliar feeling around a Stark. Steve was not a stupid man, nor was he quite humble enough to think of himself as one, but trying to follow the patterns of true genius sometimes left him dizzy.

"Somehow, I'm not entirely surprised." There were no words, no gesture this time, yet the image of Miss Potts appeared, a small smile on her lips, as though she were amused at something. Tony's eyes lost some of their sharpness as they strayed, fixing on the image of her. If Steve had ever doubted his devotion to his girl, that doubt was gone now. "I have to think of two people now, Cap."

"I see." A small, traitorous part inside him wanted to protest, wanted to call Tony selfish, to remind just how many young men had left their girls behind, never to return. He remembered Peggy, her smile and her sharp eyes and the feel of her lips against his, and almost spoke up. However, he also remembered the pain of leaving her behind, of promising her a date they both knew would never come.

He remembered the pain of waking up in a world without her. That was not a sacrifice he could ask someone else to make.

"No, actually, I don't think you do, Cap." Tony's voice made him open his eyes, startled to realize he had closed them in the first place. "You see, neither of those people is me."

Steve startled, then glanced around as though to make sure no other image had appeared, even though he knew that couldn't be true. "You mean…"

"Breathe a word about it and I won't even have time to kill you, because Pepper will have ended me first." Tony shook his head. "But, basically, yeah. The world's soon going to experience the menace of another little Stark, or really a little Potts because Pepper is damn stubborn, but I figure as long as I'm on the birth certificate it still kind of counts." There was a grin on his face, just for a moment, before it was replaced by a serious look. "I'm damn well going to be a better father than my old man. And however badly I may screw that up, I'm not going to start by getting myself killed before Junior even pops out."

"Right." Steve somehow managed to gather himself enough to say, "Congratulations."

"Not quite sure if those are actually in order; it might be more prudent to send your condolences to poor Pepper. But, hey, thanks anyway." Tony gave Pepper's image one last look before sending it away again, leaving them in the dim overhead lights once more. "But seriously, ask for Rhodey. I'm sure he'd love a change of pace, and he's almost as good as I am."

"I will." He would, and he was sure Coloner Rhodes would be a useful ally, but he still would have preferred Iron Man. "…Thank you."

"Nothing to thank me for recently. Well, aside from those new super-reinforced gloves and cowl, you get those? They fit all right?"

"Yes, I did, and they do. Thank you." He had certainly been surprised to receive new equipment from Tony without even asking, but he was not foolish enough to complain.

"Well, if I'm not going to be around to keep your pretty little head from cracking open, I can at least try to save it by proxy." Tony shrugged, then clapped his hands. "Jarvis? Bring up the schematics again, will you?"

Steve slipped out of the workshop without much notice.

He supposed he'd have to ask Fury to contact the air force.

*

"Where the Hell do these keep coming from?" Clint's voice cut clearly through the sounds of battle from his ear piece. "I swear, every time I kill one, three more pop up. What, do they breed really fast or something?"

"Focus, Hawkeye." There was no real bite in Steve's voice, though. He'd been on a few missions together with Clint since the battle against the Chitauri, nothing major, but enough that he'd gotten a grasp of the man's character. If Clint was chattering, it meant he was more frustrated than worried. It also meant he trusted those on the mission with him, which Steve knew to take as an honor. Aside from Natasha, Clint was probably the most experienced combatant out of them all, and both Steve and Colonel Rhodes had seen actual war.

As though summoned by Steve's thoughts, War Machine flew overhead, taking down a few enemies that had been rushing toward Steve. Seeing the strange creatures — gigantic teddy bears, how bizarre — stagger fall down, Steve quickly saluted the gleaming metal man. Technically, his title was still Iron Patriot, but Rhodes had made it very clear he preferred his old name. Steve could kind of relate to that. Such heavy names weren't easy to bear.

However, War Machine was not Iron Man. Sure, he had flight capabilities and heavy arms, both qualities they greatly benefited from especially as Thor had yet to return from Asgard, but with these enemies, Iron Man's repulsor blasts would have been much better than bullets, which more often than not seemed to sink into their enemies' soft bellies without causing much damage. Even Natasha had abandoned her firearms, attacking the monstrous toys with a couple of sharp knives instead, cutting them apart. Steve himself could do little more than herd them in the right directions for his team to destroy.

"We really could use Iron Man here," Clint commented next, and Steve made a mental note to ask Fury if his team actually had telepathic abilities. "Bet he would just set all these creeps on fire and laugh like the mad scientist he is as they go down."

"Thanks for that disturbing mental image," Rhodes's voice came over the comm. "Especially as I can so very easily picture Tony doing just that."

"See? Even his bestie agrees with me!" Clint huffed. "Why isn't he here, anyway? I thought he got over his freak-outs after that thing around Christmas."

"Tony had his reasons," Steve replied, unable to help the sharp tone of his voice. He knew Clint's frustration all too well, but the archer simply didn't know enough to criticize the situation. "Reasons which I approve of. Or do you think I should have dragged him along against his will?"

"Well, obviously not." There was the faint sound of the bowstring as Clint loosed another arrow, soon followed by the blast of explosives in the distance. "However, if anyone could have spoken him into it, it's you."

"I highly doubt that." He highly doubted he could have spoken Tony into even spitting in his direction; the man seemed like he took great delight in doing things simply to spite others. "Even if I could have done that, I would not have tried."

"What are those oh so good reasons then? Because I'd sure know how to get one of those get out of saving the world free cards."

Steve sighed. "It's not something I can or will tell you without Tony's approval." Whacking another bear in the face with his shield, shattering one of its eyes, he added, "Besides, I've already given you reasons, and you refused to accept them."

"Yeah, because they're shitty ass reasons." Clint snorted. "Obviously he doesn't need the reactor to be in his chest, or we wouldn't have War Machine here. And so what if he got rid of his suits? That was in December, we're in April now. He's had more than enough time to build a new one. Don't even try to tell me he hasn't."

"Tony seems pretty firm in his decision to stay alive for Pepper's sake," Rhodes commented, saving Steve from having to come up with an answer. "Considering he's actually a civilian unlike us, it's perfectly within his rights to choose to stay out of trouble for once."

"Doctor Banner is a civilian," Steve added. "I know he agreed to help us this time," with the Hulk being rather frighteningly efficient at tearing apart the teddies, "but if he decided not to, we wouldn't force him to."

"Yeah, well, I thought that's because not even we are stupid enough to piss him off."

"And you think it's any wiser to anger the guy who used to build bombs for a living?" Rhodes shot back.

"Boys, just ignore Clint," Natasha cut in. "He's just annoyed because he spent months thinking of comebacks for just about any fictional archer Stark could call him and now all his hard work's going to waste."

"It's just indecent," Clint grumbled. "If the idiot's going to sit on his pretty ass and not do any of the actual work, the least he could do is show up and get in distress so we get to save him."

"Aw, I never thought you cared." Tony's voice in his ear, crisp and clear, startled Steve, though not as much as the sudden repulsor blast that took off one of the teddy bears that had been rushing toward him, the second following suit a fraction of a moment later. "Next time I'll even wear a skirt for you."

"Tony!" Rhodes sounded only mildly surprised. Then, he had known Tony for long enough that Steve supposed not much surprised him any more. "I was going to get those."

"Yeah, yeah, sorry for stealing them," he said, and Steve did not even stop to wonder how he managed to cut directly into their comm link frequency. Of course Tony was linked in; he was Tony. "Have fun without me?"

"Tony," Steve said, unable to entirely keep the relief out of his voice. It had been quite difficult. "I thought you were set against coming?"

"Yeah, well, I was informed by a higher power that my presence was required." Tony's next blast cut one of the larger bears cleanly in half.

"Translation, he sulked at the TV screen until Pepper decided getting him out of the house was more important than keeping him alive," Rhodes commented with a wry tone.

"Why, Rhodey, honeybutt, I'm absolutely hurt." Tony flew close enough to War Machine that Steve almost worried they were going to collide, though he knew well enough the control systems of the suits would not allow that to happen. "Actually, Pepper saw the news, came to the workshop to find me, and kicked me out."

Well, Steve supposed that would explain why he had come despite his conviction not to. He did suspect there was very little Tony would not do for his girl. "Why did she do that?"

"Pepper's got kind of a thing against huge stuffed animals since my first disastrous attempt at choosing her Christmas present all by myself." Tony paused enough to blast off a bear, then added, "It's either that, or she figured I was going to sulk for a while if I didn't go."

Clint snorted. "Sounds about right."

"Well, that and there's the small matter of trying to limit the collateral damage," Tony added with an almost cheerful tone. "She made it very clear she would not be giving birth in a pile of smoldering ruins, and absolutely refused to have naught but Jarvis and myself for midwives for some unfathomable reason, so I had to come along to help you out."

For a moment there was silence, and Steve almost thought the remark had slipped by unnoticed. Then, though, Clint spoke up, his voice incredulous. "Wait, what?"

"You heard me." Yes, definitely cheerful. "No, you can't be godfather, that's obviously Thor's job because duh — and yours too, Rhodey, don't think you're getting away that easy, I heard that smirk — but if you behave, I may allow you to actually see the kid once or twice."

"Are you sure the world's insured enough against another Stark?"

"Another Potts, thank you very much. Pepper's made it very clear she's not going to marry me just because we procreated, and even if she did she'd keep her name because she's lovely and independent like that. And since it's her kid, it's obviously going to take her name."

"So that's why you weren't going to take part in the battle," Natasha remarked, her tone utterly devoid of surprise.

"Kind of, yeah. And just so you know, I'm still determined to live to see my kid, so if there's another sudden nuclear attack I'm not going to be the one to carry it off. It's someone else's turn anyway. Maybe you should draw straws? Or we could just all agree it's Hawkass. I certainly vote for him. I bet all those arm muscles would flex in pretty awe-inspiring ways if he tried to lob a missile."

"Fuck you, too, Stark." Clint snorted. "Good to know impending fatherhood hasn't made you any less of an asshole."

"Oh, you know, have to get as much of it out of my system as I can before the spawn's here, Pepper would kill me if I managed to teach our progeny bad habits before she's managed to warn it to stay away from men like me." Tony did set a bear on fire, now. Thankfully Hulk came up to toss it into a wall before it managed to rush off like a big, furry torch on two legs. "By the way, when's Agent finally allowed to come out and play? I'm pretty sure Pepper wants him to be at her baby shower."

"Agent?" Steve frowned. "Agent who?"

He could almost hear Tony rolling his eyes. "Coulson, obviously. What, you actually thought Fury wouldn't have lied about that, too? I got him tracked to a secret SHIELD facility about a week after the attack. It was a pretty nasty hit, but he should have more than recovered by now."

"You do realize we're going to report that to Fury, right?" Natasha asked, her voice betraying no emotion.

"You do realize I don't give a shit, right?" There was a sharp edge to Tony's chuckle. "Fury knows precisely what I think about his lies and secrets. It's been almost a year; it's about time he gives us back our agent."

"Us?" Steve echoed before he could stop himself. "Does that mean you're going to keep working with us?" No, he would not allow himself to feel a dash of hope at that. Tony had his own priorities, ones which Steve could only respect, no matter how happy he had been to see the flash of red and gold fly overhead.

"Aw, Captain, I knew you missed me after all." Tony took a sharp turn around another large bear, causing it to change its trajectory to follow him. "How about we take care of these cute monstrosities before such talk?"

It took a moment for Tony's words to actually register as not being a refusal. When they did, though, Steve found a grin working its way onto his face.

"All right, Avengers," he said. "Let's get this over with, shall we?"

Today, there would be nothing to avenge.

But they sure as hell had something to fight for.


End file.
